calvary

The Austrian cavalry might have been in the news because of this incident, in NYT at query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D05E2D8113FE633A... "By AUSTIN WEST. Special Correspondent of THE NEW YORK TIMES and The London Daily Chronicle. Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES. August 14, 1914, Friday MILAN, Aug. 13. -- How 5,000 Cossacks annihilated two picked Austrian cavalry regiments from Lemberg is told graphically in a dispatch which has reached the Corriore d'Italia by way of Trieste."

I believe the building in the background is the Old Admiralty and the parade ground itself is the Horse Guards Parade.

I think so too, they still Troop the Colour there.

Interesting detail: about 2/3 of the way to the right, in front of the line of guards and just behind the foreground figure, there is a second mounted figure who appears to be Indian. He's wearing a decorated turban of some kind, has a moustache, and doesn't look particularly old. You can see him in the medium size, but he stands out more in the larger sizes. Someone has tagged this "raj" -- so I can't be the only one who's noticed. I wonder who he is? Also more apparent in the larger size: masses of people standing on a balcony in the background, and at almost every window!

Well spotted CM! Isn't that interesting. I'd guess he was some visiting dignitary but I don't have the faintest idea who.

My guess is that they are from India/Hindustan.

Here is a different photo from the NY Times of the Culver Black Horse Troop, which was to participate in the inauguration of Wilson: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B0DE1D6163FE6... The Culver Military Academy still exists, it is a college prep boarding school in Indiana: Wikipedia article here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culver_Military_Academy The Culver Black Horse Troop still exists and has participated in many inaugurations, here is a link: www.culver.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view...